Air cargo carriers have highlighted that increases to airport leases and fees paid by passenger airlines would be much less in comparison.
The increases are being negotiated in a new operating agreement between the airlines and the state Department of Transportation. The new operating agreement would increase the cost of using both the Anchorage and Fairbanks international airports.
Air cargo carriers are concerned that increased landing fees will further crimp budgets; especially since skyhigh fuel costs have already crippled the industry.
Increases in the cargo operations would aff ect carriers like Cathay Pacific Airways, Eva Air, Asiana and Korean Air. All have officially contacted DOT to voice opposition to increased landing fees.
“Our concern is that 75 per cent of the landing fees are predominantly paid for by the international cargo carriers and may be a disproportionate share of terminal costs,” Audene Barlow, then-airport services manager at Cathay Pacific, said in a letter to DOT Commissioner Leo von Scheben.
This comes during a time when Canadian officials are trying to entice cargo carriers landing in Anchorage to use fuel and ground services at an airport in Prince George, British Columbia. Meanwhile, the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport has no airport director.
